“Duly noted,” I reply. “Now, back to the matter at hand. What happened?”
“He didn’t mean to.Ididn’t mean it to happen. It’s just?—”
“Jude…” I near-on growl, though I sound more like an angry kitten than a grizzly mama bear. His eyes widen before a startled laugh escapes him.
Dropping his fork down onto the plate in his lap, he holds his hands up in surrender “OK. OK. I ramble when I’m nervous.”
I smile. “I know. Just say it, Jude. I’m a big girl. I can handle it, I promise.”
He takes a deep breath. “You know how Pete organized the weddin’ license for us and took it with him afterward?” I nod for him to continue, still not seeing where this is going. “Somehow it got caught up with papers in his office.”
I scrunch my nose up. “I don’t think I understand.”
He looks at me dead on, not hiding, not masking anything, and before I can fully lose myself in those big brown eyes of his, he drops the bomb.
“Long story short, our marriage was accidentally registered and now…”
The cogs in my brain grind to a halt and I don’t hear anything else he says after that.
There’s fear in his eyes. He’s worried about how I’ll react. The thing is, instead of a sinking weight of dread, something else flickers inside me. “It’s real?” I whisper.
“I’m so sorry. I know this was never meant to happen—not like this.” His words confuse me for a second but he continues before I can wonder what he meant. “But it’s happened, and we’re…and you’re…”
“Here?”
He nods. “Yeah. I wanted to tell you in person not over the phone or over text so I came straight here. Didn’t want you to find out from anyone else because it’s not anyone’s fault. Well, I guess it kind ofis, but it wasn’t intentional. And Pete has apologized to me and asked me to pass it on to you. I just?—"
I can’t take it. His rambling and verbal diarrhea are too much for me to cope with on top of his news. I should be pissed as all get out and yet I’m sitting here listening to him speak and biting back a grin. “Jude?”
“Yeah?”
“You need to breathe, hubby.”
That jolts him out of whatever downward spiral he was stuck in. “What?” he says with a startled laugh.
“Just breathe.” I smirk. “I’m startin’ to worry that you might pass out from lack of oxygen with all that ramblin’.”
He shakes his head as if to clear his mind, his eyes studying me like I’m one of the wonders of the world.
“You’re confusin’menow. Aren’t you—did you hear what I said?” he asks, looking completely dumbfounded.
“Yeah. I heard. Pete registered our marriage by mistake. We’re now married for real.”
His head jerks back. “And you’reOKwith that?”
“I’m…” I need a stronger drink than damn Ginger Ale. “I don’t quite knowhowI am with it.” Probably because I’m not freaking out like I should be. “I think we need liquor,” I blurt out.
I can see Jude’s brain working a mile a minute as he tries to catch up with where I’m at. “Yes. Alcohol. Strong. That’s what we need.”
Needing to move, I put my dinner down and leap up off the couch, only to trip over my feet, then Jude’s, and end up crashing into his lap with a shriek. Thankfully, his arm acts as a cushion for my head, protecting me from injury. In the end, half of me is sprawled over him.
“Shit. Are you OK?” he asks, gazing down at me, concern written all over his face.
I take stock of where I am, what hurts—nothing—and how he’s holding me tight, looking down at me with the softest, most heartfelt, earnest expression on his face.
Am I OK?
It feels like I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole and landed in another universe. A better one.